NASA Overhauls Mars Sample Return Plan After Costs Swell to $11 Billion
Updated
Updated · Good News Network · Jun 25
NASA Overhauls Mars Sample Return Plan After Costs Swell to $11 Billion
1 articles · Updated · Good News Network · Jun 25
Summary
NASA has begun a full redesign of its Mars Sample Return mission and is seeking new industry and academic proposals after the original concept’s projected cost climbed to $11 billion.
The overhaul leaves no firm path yet to retrieve the cached tubes collected by Perseverance, even as the rover marks 5 years on Mars and 26.2 miles of driving.
Nearly 100 sampling efforts have gathered material from Jezero Crater and beyond, including lake sediments, carbonate-rich rocks and some of the earliest molten rock thought to have formed on Mars.
Those findings have strengthened evidence that Jezero once held a lake and potentially habitable conditions, raising the scientific stakes for returning the samples to Earth.
Jared Isaacman has floated a future crewed pickup by astronauts, but for now the sealed sample tubes may need to remain on Mars for years or even decades.